What if Dobby was Asleep?
by Teddylonglong
Summary: ONE-SHOT. What if Dobby was asleep and did not provide Harry with Gillyweed? Completely AU, set in Harry's fourth Hogwarts year. Just a pointless drabble for your entertainment.


**What if Dobby was Asleep?**  
 **by Healer Pomfrey**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU!**

* * *

Harry Potter made his way to the edge of the lake, where the second task of the Triwizard tournament was going to commence now any minute. In spite of all the efforts to find a spell, a charm or anything else in order to be able to breathe under water for a longer time, Harry still had no idea how to achieve this goal.

In fact, he was even lucky to be awake on time for the task. He had spent hours in the library last night, however, had fallen asleep and only woken up when the Weasley twins came to rouse him ten minutes before he was supposed to be ready at the shore of the lake.

 _'Oh well, I just hope that my magic will save me from drowning,'_ he thought, as he readied himself for the task at hand.

 _'Where's Hermione when I need her?'_ was his last thought, before he jumped into the water, uncertain if he would ever be able to return to the safety of the shore.

It was just a few seconds after he had jumped into the water that he felt a strange sensation pass through the lower part of his body. _'What happened?'_ he wondered in confusion, however, reminded himself that he had to concentrate on swimming and on saving Ron Weasley. To his surprise, he did not have any problems swimming though. Somehow, it worked nearly automatically, almost as if he had spent his whole life swimming across the lake at least once a week. Above all, it just felt good to be in the water, and Harry absolutely enjoyed himself gliding through the lake in a fast speed. _'This is just amazing. It seems so natural,'_ he thought in surprise.

HP

Severus Snape observed the four students jump into the lake in disdain. _'I'd rather join them to visit the merpeople at the bottom of the lake than stand here and wait for the imbeciles to return,'_ he thought in annoyance. In fact, he was half merman and half wizard, the only of his kind alive at this time. Only the headmaster as well as Minerva and Poppy knew about the matter. Once a week during the weekend, he went for a long swim and visited the merpeople, who were always very kind to him and accepted him as one of their own kind.

All of a sudden, he saw something that nearly made his heart stop. The tail fin of a merman was shimmering above the lake in a well known emerald colour. _'Potter?'_ he thought, incredulously, instinctively knowing that there was only one reply to the unasked question that immediately arose the front of his mind.

"Poppy," he turned to the healer, who was standing a few steps behind him. "May I speak with you in private for a moment, please?"

"Sure," the kind healer replied, smiling, as she led him away from the crowd, casting a silencing spell around them as they went.

"Was Potter a half merman?" Severus blurted out, giving his best friend a piercing look.

"No dear," she said in a soft voice, only to add, "I'm glad that you found it out by yourself, since I was bound by my healer's oath."

HP

In the meantime, Harry had reached the spot, where the merpeople were keeping Hermione, Ron and two other girls hostage. To his surprise, the merpeople became very excited upon seeing him.

"We'll let you take all of them with you if you promise to join your father and come to visit us on Sundays," one of the merwomen told him, causing Harry to return an incomprehensive look.

"All right," he promised, tentatively, noticing gratefully that two mermen freed all four hostages for him to take them with him. He profusely thanked the merpeople, inwardly sighing in relief when Viktor and Cedric finally arrived to take their hostages with them, so that he only had to rescue Ron and Fleur's little sister. Once again, he arrived back at the other side of the lake long before the other two champions were able to make their way through the water.

After enduring a lot of fussing by the healer and a few other people, Harry was glad when he was finally able to return to the common room, feeling extremely relieved to have survived the dreaded second task.

HP

 _'Where's Hermione?'_ he wondered, realising that the girl was not in the common room, although he was sure that she had been released much earlier than himself.

It was only half an hour later that his friend climbed through the portrait hole, looking extremely excited.

"Harry," she addressed him right away, motioning him to follow her into his dormitory. "I just cast a searching spell over the library, looking for half mermen during the twentieth century," she explained, causing Harry to stare at her with a combination of surprise and expectation.

"There's only one other half merman alive at this time," she informed him, "Severus Snape."

"What?" Harry blurted out in shock.

"Yes," Hermione replied, smiling. "You know what it means, don't you?"

Instead of a reply, Harry bade his friend good night and retired to bed, while his thoughts went haywire. _'I'm a half merman?'_ he thought in disbelief. _'Why in the world did no one ever tell me?'_

 _'Because they didn't know about it,'_ a small voice replied from the back of his mind, only to add, _'The only person who could have known probably wasn't even aware of the fact that you're his son.'_

 _'Snape,'_ his mind screamed, causing Harry to wish that Hermione was wrong, at least once in her life.

In complete confusion, Harry finally drifted off to sleep, dreaming about merpeople who invited him to brew potions at the bottom of the lake, while the Giant Squid was splashing around above their heads, occasionally throwing sea weed into their cauldrons.

HP

At breakfast the following morning, Hedwig delivered a letter to Harry.

 _'Mr. Potter,'_ it said,  
 _'Come to the shore of the lake for your detentions every Sunday morning at ten o'clock sharp until the end of the school year.  
Severus Snape'_

"What?" Ron blurted out, glancing at Harry's letter. "Is Snape completely nuts?"

Harry smiled. "No Ron, that's all right," he replied in a soft voice, inwardly grinning in anticipation, as he was looking forward to get to know his father and the merpeople.

 **The End**


End file.
